


The Disruption of Me and You

by starstruck1986



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-08 00:39:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5476538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starstruck1986/pseuds/starstruck1986
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All they wanted was a little peace, a quiet moment in time to try and work out what, exactly, the hell they were doing. But that’s too much to ask for, apparently.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Disruption of Me and You

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Language, cross-gen, age disparity (35/55), AU in that Snape lived and Ron only has one child.

**The Disruption of Me and You**

  
  
“Christ, I knew you made your fortune after the war but this...” Severus trailed his fingers over the bottom of the banister and searched for an appropriate adjective.  
  
Several inappropriate words sprang to mind, but he didn't want to offend.  
  
That – in a nutshell – was the whole reason he found himself standing in an overblown holiday home, windswept and shivering, with Ronald Weasley. He refused to acknowledge that so far they'd been on several of what Ron's generation would call 'dates' and what Severus referred to as 'casual meetings'.  
  
_Because you're kidding yourself._  
  
He was well aware of that fact. 'Casual meetings' didn't particularly suit their hurried meals and drinks together, then rushing to the nearest bed and fucking their way into oblivion.  
  
_Over dramatic._  
  
“Perhaps,” Severus said quietly to himself.  
  
“What?” Ron asked, unwinding the scarf from around his throat.  
“Nothing. Just... this is an impressive house.”  
“Yeah... wish I could lay claim to all of it. But we share it.”  
“We?”  
“Harry, Hermione, my brothers... we all chipped in and we bought this to have somewhere to come in the summers and on the weekends.”  
“How quaint. A perfect getaway with your ‘perfect’ family and friends.”  
  
Ron made a face and swore at him.  
  
“So how did that work, in the divorce?”  
“How many times do I have to tell you that we didn't divorce, we 'separated amicably.'”  
“Did you not want to pay for a divorce?”  
“Shut up!” Ron huffed, chucking his soaking coat on a waiting peg. “Or I'll shove you back outside in that.” He gestured to the door where they could still here the wind and lashing rain battering the beach. “Don't mention the D-Word. I've had enough of it.”  
  
Severus smirked to himself as he removed his own coat and hung it up more carefully than Ron's own, which was dripping all over the shoe rack beneath it.  
  
“I don't see why you find it stressful. After all, you weren't the one who walked out.”  
“She didn't walk out. She just...”  
“Made you by threatening to if you didn’t.”  
“Nobody made me do anything. But I just fucking hate people turning it into something it wasn't.”  
“Such as?”  
“A big drama.”  
“Most people would consider splitting up with your wife of fifteen years, the division of your assets and to all intents and purposes, your child, a big drama.”  
  
Ron sighed and rubbed his fingers over his face. “I know. But we're all doing our best to ignore it with stiff upper lips, so I'd be grateful if... I dunno. You just could too?” He shrugged and held his hands out. “This isn't why I brought you here.”  
“You must have expected it, surely? This, a place where you have so many memories. Where, look, there are still pictures of you with your wife on the walls?!” Severus pointed to the offending picture, nicely framed and containing waving participants.  
  
“You can't just erase the past,” Ron muttered. He stalked over and looked at the picture. “That's on my twenty-first birthday. She's holding me up. I was shitfaced.”  
  
Severus snorted and looked up, taking in the large hallway. Ron took advantage of the sudden silence to sneak up close to him and make a fist in the front of his shirt.  
  
“Weather's shit. Let's get the fire going, pour some drinks and...”  
“And what?”  
  
Ron raised his eyebrows suggestively, a hopeful little smile curling the corners of his mouth.  
  
“I don't remember being half as randy as you when I was thirty-five.”  
“Weasley virility. Never dies.”  
“You try telling me that when you're fifty-five and one round feels like a marathon.”  
“You're fifty-five, not sodding eighty.”  
Ron kissed him then: a confident, commandeering kiss with gentle touches to his shoulders.  
  
“Light the fire. I'll get the drinks. Then you can show me just how exhausted you can get at your... advanced age.”  
  
The slight smile turned into a full-blown dirty grin.  
  
Not for the first time, Severus wondered how he had become the person that those grins were directed at. How he had ended up with Ronald Weasley's hands on his shoulders and lips on his mouth.  
  
_And other places._  
  
He had the grace to cringe slightly at the reminder.  
  
“C'mon.” Ron took one of his hands and tugged. “I'll show you around first.”  
  
***  
“What would Potter say if he knew _we_ were doing _this_ on his fancy bedlinen?”   
  
Severus couldn't help it. He was amused by the thought.  
  
“It's not _his_ ,” Ron said, with false calm. He put his mouth to good use for a few moments, causing Severus to let out a little moan of pleasure. “Truth be told I can't remember who paid for what now. Seems like so long ago.”  
  
Shivering, Severus looked down at Ron in between his legs – all long limbs and freckles, red-cheeked and tousle-haired. He was a picture of health and lust and in the low light the lines which had come to rest on his young face were blurred out of reality.  
  
On top of wondering how they had come to be together, he spent a lot of time wondering what had brought Ron to this point. Severus had never pegged him for someone to veer both ways, but then he'd never thought that of himself, either. The truth for both of them was sucking on his cock.  
  
Or, rather, was sitting back on his heels, clearly shattered, and sagging.  
  
“I'm knackered.” Ron's eyelids drooped shut.  
“Then let's go to bed. To sleep, I mean.”  
  
Ron smiled without opening his eyes. “It's a bit cruel of me to lure you away under the pretence of a weekend of shagging and then fall asleep at ten o'clock on the first night...”  
“Well, we have the entire weekend to do such… things. I'd rather you be awake for it to be perfectly frank. You look like you're about to pass out.”  
  
Ron sighed happily as he crawled up onto his knees and then onto the bed. He landed with a _flump_ sound - knocking all the stuffing out of his body – leaving Severus to extinguish the candles and try and work the duvet out from underneath Ron's dead weight so they wouldn't freeze.  
  
He was snoring by the time Severus finally laid down in the dark and covered them both up. The house was completely still around them but the weather continued to rage outside.  
  
He had rarely felt such a surreal peace as what stole over him at that moment.  
  
***  
  
Bleary eyed and still half asleep, Severus groped for the door knob. His fingers slipped with clumsiness and he swore under his breath. There was sunlight flooding through the curtains neither of them had bothered to pull the night before and it mostly blinded Severus. Years of waking up underground had taken their toll on his corneas. Sunlight was the devil.  
  
As such, when he finally stepped out onto the landing, he was blinking stupidly to try and make his eyes work, and he might not even have seen it coming even if he'd had full command of his body.  
  
Something solid and warm collided with his leg. He leapt out of his skin in fright but a high-pitched scream cut through his sleepy mind.  
  
“DADDY! THERE'S A STRANGER!”  
  
And she was gone, in a whirl of flying brown, bushy hair and an expression of terror.  
  
“Oh my god.”  
  
Severus threw himself back inside the room and leant against the door.  
  
“Sev'us?” Ron croaked from the bed. “What's the racket?”  
“There is a _child_ in this house.”  
“Don't be daft. C'back to bed...”  
  
Ron fell back down into the pillows and Severus waited for it to kick in – the fact there was yet more screaming coming from the lower levels of the house. Many voices.  
  
“Why on earth did you bring me here?” Severus hurled, when he finally managed to get his mouth in gear. “I told you specifically that I had no interest in bringing anyone else into this relationship yet!”  
  
Ron was sitting back up, his face ashen as the screaming grew closer and the sound of pounding feet neared the bedroom door. Panicked, Severus began collecting random articles of clothing from the floor and putting them on, even though he had no idea if they were his or Ron's. He staggered over to where his wand rested by the bed and gripped it tightly enough to break it.  
  
“Don't go,” Ron pleaded, stretching out one hand to grab Severus'. “Don't, I'm sorry – I didn't think anyone would be here.”  
  
Furious, Severus yanked his arm away and grabbed his boots from the floor. “More like you thought this would be the perfect time to humiliate me after lulling me into a false sense of security!”  
“Why the fuck would I want to humiliate you? I'm all over you!”  
“And Merlin only knows why!”  
  
Severus turned into a spin to Apparate home, but at that moment the door to their room flew open, revealing Harry Potter on the threshold with his wife behind him, and a wailing child peeping out from behind them both. He staggered slightly and only just retained his balance.  
  
“Rosie?” Ron's voice was thick with embarrassment. “Harry? What the...?”  
“Daddy!” Severus stepped back as the little girl who had collided with him on the landing hurled herself across the room and into Ron's lap. “What are you doing here?”  
“I think we'd all like to know the answer to that,” Ginny commented dryly.  
“I was just leaving.” Severus drew himself to his full height and tried to look as dignified as possible with his hair resembling a bird's-nest and his boots dangling from his fingers. He suddenly wished he'd paid more attention to getting dressed.  
  
“Harry. I told you I needed peace this weekend,” Ron said wearily.  
“Yeah, and you said you'd be away for the whole weekend. I thought we'd give the kids a treat by coming away for it.”  
“But _we're_ here.”  
“Who's 'we're'?”  
“Me and Severus.”  
“Severus and you?” Harry repeated. “Why?”  
  
There was a mortifying moment in which nobody spoke but stole glances at one another.  
  
“What's going on? Why all the noise?” A female voice broke the silence.  
  
Severus willed the floor to open beneath him. Hermione Granger poked her head around the door, frowning. Her face was comical as she set eyes first on Severus, dishevelled, and then Ron in the bed, cuddling their daughter.  
  
“I think we should all go downstairs,” Ginny said finally, trying to keep her tone calm but it was obvious that she was trying not to laugh. “And leave these two alone.”  
“Alone, why would you want to leave my Daddy alone with a stranger?” Rose asked, wide-eyed.  
“I don't think he's that much of a stranger, Rosie.” Harry, too, was struggling to keep a straight face.  
“In fact I'd go as far as to say that they're a bit over-friendly,” George Weasley commented, appearing behind everyone. “Ron, want to explain why you're with the man who sliced off my ear?”  
“George-”  
“ _Severed!_ ” George cried dramatically – it was too much for the group on the threshold; they all broke into the sort of giggles that made Severus want to start firing off hexes left, right and centre.  
  
“Oh wow, from the look on that face you might lose your other ear in a minute,” Harry muttered, and they all laughed again.  
“Okay, that's _enough_ ,” Ron snapped finally.  
  
He was up out of bed in a flash and deposited his daughter into his ex-wife's hands.  
  
“All of you, shut up and get out. Now.”  
“But-”  
“NOW.” Ron shouted, grabbing the edge of the door and making out that he was about to slam it. “I'll deal with you later.”  
  
As he managed to shut the thin slice of wood between them, the group on the landing burst out into laughter again. Ron rested his forehead on the door. Severus could see the tension in his thin frame.  
  
“I'm so sorry, Severus.” He didn't move. The tips of his ears and his neck were red. “I'm so sorry. I honestly didn't know they'd be here. I thought we'd have the whole weekend and I'm really, really sorry.”  
  
When he finally showed his face again, it was miserable, and Severus wondered what had happened in recent years to soften him. He still felt like hurling abuse and some choice curses at the redhead, but the embarrassment etched on his face was _doing things_ to Severus' chest and mind. He didn't like it.  
  
“Well... there's no need to apologise. It's obvious you had no idea what they were planning.”  
“And I'm as gutted as you... I was really looking forward to this. It was... it was going to be great.” He finished in a timid, disappointed tone that Severus immediately loathed.  
  
“Ron. I apologise for shouting.”  
“I'm sorry for my fucking family ruining everything, as usual.”  
“Why don't we just get dressed, get our things and go somewhere else? A hotel somewhere perhaps. Where nobody we know will think to look for us.”  
“I don't want to run. That just makes things worse.”  
“Are you suggesting we stay here?”  
  
Severus could think of many things he would rather do than stay in a house with Potter, Granger and their children. However, a guilty pang flared in him when he remembered that one of those children was Ron's, too. Though they had not yet discussed meetings and so on, Ron had made it blatantly clear at the start that his daughter was going to be involved. Severus had agreed to that.  
  
“Yes, but no, because I can see that you don't want to.”  
“I'm not sure I'm quite ready for it, truth be told.”  
“Me either.”  
  
Severus sat down on the bed and looked up at Ron, who still hovered by the door. “I'll leave it up to you. They are your friends. Your family. I will stay if you ask me to.”  
  
Every word felt like sandpaper on his tongue. A blunt, burning kind of agony. What on earth was he committing to? And why?  
  
When his breath caught in his throat at the sight of the grateful, loving look on Ron's face, he knew why.  
  
And he hated that, too.  


* * *

  
  
Heart banging like a drum, Ron paused before entering the kitchen. He fidgeted with his shirt and pulled it down, trying to hide the creases where it had spent the night slung on the bedroom floor. He knew there were people inside, he could hear voices. The sounds of cutlery scraping on plates. Laughter.  
  
He sucked in a final deep breath and entered. All eyes swivelled to him as he had expected – his constitution gave a dangerous wobble.  
  
“Morning.”  
  
Everybody stared.  
  
“Is there coffee? Yes. Good. I'll just...” He scurried across the kitchen and turned his back on them all, feeling clammy as the tension caused heat to lick up his neck.  
  
“Where's your boyfriend?” Ginny asked brightly.  
“Upstairs,” Ron answered, and then winced at walking into her trap.  
“So... would you like some Snape with that coffee?” George asked, mirroring Ginny's nonchalance.  
  
“I'd like you all to drop it,” Ron said over his shoulder. He remained where he was, hoping they couldn't tell that his hands were shaking.  
“Oh come on, we've been waiting ages to rip into you about this!” George protested.  
  
He was immediately hushed by several voices.  
  
“What?” Ron asked, turning around with his coffee in hand. He met some very guilty faces. “You knew?”  
“But we didn't _say_ anything,” Harry said emphatically, as though he expected a medal for the hardship.  
“How?”  
“Angelina's sister.” George winked at him. “Works in the city. Saw you two enjoying a rather... shall we say passionate? A passionate snog outside a pub one night. Recognised you from our wedding. Didn't know you'd split up with Hermione – you're lucky she didn't come over and sock you one in the mouth... she's that kind of girl, see. Instead she came home and told my wife...”  
“And you told every fucker I know?”  
“Language!” Hermione and Ginny cried together.  
  
Ron reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “So you just decided to torment us both up there.” He nodded at the ceiling. “Nice. Thanks for understanding. I really appreciate your support after all these years of putting up with your problems, your whinging, and your past bad relationship choices and down right questionable career choices!”  
  
His voice had risen. He swallowed hard to try and calm down.  
  
“We were going to try and make this work – stay the weekend. But you can all just sod off now. I can't bear to look at any of you.”  
“Ron, c'mon mate.” Harry sat up. “We're just having a bit of fun.”  
“Well don't have fun at my expense. Or Severus'. You owe me more than that.”  
“Can I remind you that when I was fifteen you thought my girlfriend cried through our first kiss because I was _that_ bad at kissing?” Harry asked coolly.  
“Yeah well, your girlfriend wasn't fifty-five, a Slytherin and ready to run at any second because of the history, was she?”  
“She couldn't run,” George pointed out. “She was crying too hard because Harry sucked so much.”  
  
In the argument which followed, Ron sidled unnoticed back out of the kitchen, coffee clasped in his hand and burning his fingers, and made for the stairs. He hadn't been lying when he said the sight of them was too much. He had never wanted to be further away from all of them – including his little girl.   
  
He berated himself all the way up to the room they'd spent the night in, culminating in him slamming the door like a melodramatic teenager. Severus jerked out of a doze and glared at him.  
  
“Sorry,” Ron muttered. “But good, you're awake. Let's get out of here.”  
“I thought we were staying?”  
“Yeah that was before I found out that those bastards already knew about us and have been talking about it for sodding weeks!”  
“Surely that's a positive thing? They've had time to get used to the idea.”  
“Seems not, they're all acting like we're back at Hogwarts and someone embarrassing has written me a daft love letter.”  
Ron winced as he realised what he'd said; Severus' stare became distinctly cold again.  
  
“I didn't mean that.” He moaned and fell down onto the bed. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. But it's just like being back at school.”  
“Except with more sex, alcohol and freedom.”  
“Not really – we didn't manage much of any of those things last night!”  
  
He fell silent.   
  
“Do you really want to leave, Ron?”  
“I want to spend time with you.”  
“That's not what I asked.”  
  
Ron pretended to think about it – in reality his mind was empty and his body felt numb. It took him a while to realise that what he was feeling was disappointment. That they had been interrupted, that they had been found out, and that he wasn't focussed entirely on Severus.  
  
But mostly, that his family had chosen to laugh at him rather than support him.   
  
He no longer bothered making a distinction between family and friends – after all, Harry was his brother-in-law and Hermione was his ex-wife. They were all so tangled up in each other's business that really, he knew he shouldn't have been surprised that he and Severus had been found out before he wanted them to be.  
  
“What are you thinking? It looks rather painful.”  
  
Ron elbowed Severus in the ribs but smiled. It took him completely by surprise when Severus leant over and kissed him, cupping the base of Ron's skull in his palm. Ron closed his eyes and submitted, allowing Severus to have control. A sense of calm washed over his body.  
  
He didn't complain when Severus pulled him close to his body and kissed him harder, nor when he was pressed onto his back and pinned to the bed. He didn't have the breath, the energy – and when he was dominated in the silent, subtle way he was at that moment, he felt amazing.  
  
_And randy as fuck._  
  
He didn't bother to blush as Severus hesitated for a moment to smirk at him. Instead he rolled his eyes and looked away, fighting back his own coy smile. His head fell back as Severus started to kiss his throat and something instinctual took over his body.   
  
Ron groaned happily as Severus reached between their bodies and palmed his crotch. He pressed his hips up into the air, seeking more friction, which Severus gave. The button of his jeans came undone and work had just started on getting the zipper down when -  
  
“Ron?” A loud thudding came from the other side of the door just seconds before it flew open. “You all right?”  
  
George strode into the room and, had they not been in the position they were in, Ron would have found the way his eyes stretched hilarious.  
  
“For fuck's sake. Look. This is called a lock. Use it. It keeps people out whilst you're engaging in some canoodling.” He pointed to the brass plate on the door and poked the knob.  
“We weren't... canoodling...” Ron trailed off.  
“D'you think I was born yesterday?” George snorted with laughter. “I just wanted to check you were all right.”  
“I'm fine.”  
  
Ron met George's gaze across the room. It was concerned. The smile on his lips didn't reach his eyes, but then not many had since 1998.  
  
“I'm sorry we've ruined your weekend,” George said finally. “I know what it's like to want peace and quiet and never get it.”  
  
Not for the first time, Ron knew he was missing something. George's eyes slid to the right and his lips twitched with a suppressed smile.  
  
“George-”  
“Go. Go on. Nobody will hold it against you.”  
“We're staying, actually.”  
  
Ron's head snapped round to look at Severus' so quickly that he cricked his neck. Eyes watering, he waited for an explanation. Severus' weight uncovered his body and the older wizard got to his feet and brushed down his clothes.  
  
“Ideally, we'd like to not spend the weekend hiding in the bedroom.”  
“I think you've misunderstood the concept of a 'dirty weekend',” George pointed out.  
“And I think you must have very little imagination if you think such journeys must stay in the bedroom, Weasley.”  
  
Ron remained on the bed, his eyes looking from one to the other. He was surprised when George laughed and held his hand out for Severus to shake.  
  
“Sorry for the ear comments.”  
“I deserved them.”  
“I don't think that's how the story goes, but hey, it's been years. Let's let it go, eh?”  
“Agreed.”  
“Ron, we're going to play some Quidditch. Rosie wants to fly. We all know she wants to do it with you. Get off that bed and come and be with us.”  
  
Telling George to fuck off was still appealing, but there was something in Severus' expression which made him get up, run his fingers through his hair and nod. As he passed to get to the door, Severus caught his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. Ron smiled gratefully at him.  
  
***  
  
Being full of food and four bottles of cider had calmed his nerves considerably, Ron found. They were sitting at the massive kitchen table - because no Weasley had ever owned a proper dining room – in lowered lighting and with a spread of empty plates and glasses between them.  
  
Ron was struggling to find a word for just how odd the afternoon had been. He'd taken Rosie flying for what felt like hours, holding her tight in front of him. He'd let her steer and taken her higher than she'd ever been before. Her whoops of delight had done something to him – he felt emotionally bruised.  
  
Then they'd come back to earth to find Severus Snape in civilised conversation with Harry Potter and his world might as well have been turned upside down.  
  
Severus and Harry had had minimal contact after the war. It was why their own coming together had been so strange – they barely saw one another. They certainly didn't move in the same circles.  
  
_Which is why this is so fucking weird._  
  
There'd just been too much tension. Too much to thank for which Severus wanted absolutely no thanks for at all. At the time, Ron had thought it typical of him – a miserable, bitter man who wanted no joy in life.  
  
Sitting there in a kitchen he jointly owned with the man Severus had nearly died to save, he marvelled at it all. It was too much to think about on a full stomach and a slightly drunk mind, but his brain kept taking him there. He found himself unable to tear his eyes from the dark-haired man, who he had been vile about in the past. Said vile things about. Thought vile things about. Wished vile things would happen to.  
  
And now all he wanted was to let himself fall for that man, despite the sarcasm, bitterness and sniping.  
  
_Who're you kidding? You've already fallen for him._  
  
There were so many questions that Ron had yet to ask. He wasn't even sure if he was allowed to ask them. No doubt Severus had questions for him, too, and he had no idea what answers he would give.  
  
_Yes, I was married to my wife for fifteen years.  
  
Yes, I'm a little bit gay sometimes.  
  
Yes. I want you.  
  
No, I'm not joking._  
  
He could imagine it playing out awkward and hellish, he could see the looks on both of their faces. He shuddered slightly.  
  
“Earth to Ron?”  
“Mm?”  
  
Suddenly he realised the whole table was staring at him.  
  
“Drink?” Ginny asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder.  
“Yeah go on then.” He looked up at her and smiled. “Thanks.”  
Everyone laughed and Ron frowned.  
  
“I'm clearing up – we've all had enough and we're going to bed. But by all means carry on, you party animal, you.”  
  
She tugged his empty cider bottle out of his hand and laughed to herself. Around him people starting rising from the table, and the noise of clattering plates filled the kitchen. Ron felt rooted to the spot and Severus eyed him warily from the end of the table.   
  
“You okay? Ron mouthed. An almost unperceivable nod was his only reply.  
  
In all, it took about fifteen minutes for everyone to drift out of the kitchen. Harry dragged Ginny away in the end, pointing out that it would all still be there in the morning and they could deal with the mess then. He waved goodbye to Ron and rolled his eyes exasperatedly.   
  
“Make sure you extinguish the candles!” Ginny shouted from the hallway.  
  
Ron released a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He slumped in his seat and yawned.  
  
“So sleepy.”  
“Then you should go to bed. We both should.”  
“That's terribly forward of you, sir.” Ron waggled his eyebrows.  
  
Wearing an unimpressed expression, Severus stood up and let out a little whimper-squeak of pain as his joints took his weight. Pain etched across his face and Ron made to get up.  
  
“Don't bother. It's just old age. And it's coming for you too.”  
“Hey, I've already got a leg that stiffens up when it rains and scars that itch on my arms when it gets hot. I've got enough, thanks very much.” He nervously rubbed the skin of his forearm, where the scars left by the odd brains in the Ministry of Magic had permanently marked him. “And you're not old, by the way.”  
“My body begs to differ.”  
“I can make it beg to do something else if you fancy it.”  
“I thought you were tired?”  
“Not too tired for that.”  
  
Ron closed his eyes as cool fingers slid into his hair and began to massage his scalp. He wanted it to continue but Severus tipped his head backwards and bent over Ron to kiss him softly on the lips.  
  
“Mm.”  
“You taste of cider and cake.”  
“There are worst things to taste of.”  
“True.”  
  
Severus kissed him again.  
  
“Ron – oh, I'm sorry!”  
  
Ron inwardly cringed. He opened his eyes and met Severus' gaze and tried to say - _I'm so sorry this keeps on happening._  
  
“I just wanted to ask if you'd look in on Rosie before you go to bed?” Hermione asked, pausing on the threshold to the kitchen. “But it looks like you're busy.”  
“I'll do it,” Ron said immediately. “Is she awake?”  
“I think so, I could hear giggles as I walked up to the door and then fake silence until I walked away again. You'll have more luck convincing her to go to sleep than me. You always do.”  
  
She hesitated – it looked as though she was fighting not to say something.  
  
“I'll go now,” Ron said softly.  
  
He had no idea how he was going to actively balance being a father, an ex-husband and someone's boyfriend at the same time. How he would ever explain that he was embarking on a relationship with another man.  
  
“I'll see you upstairs,” he murmured with grit. “And this time, we're going to lock that _fucking_ door!”


End file.
